Arkansas Blog

And speaking of UCA

It will be the setting Wednesday for a news conference to announce a new book outlining "greener" environmental strategies for the South.

News release on the jump.

CENTER FOR A BETTER SOUTH NEWS RELEASE

CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Center for a Better South (www.bettersouth.org) on Wednesday will unveil a new book of environmental ideas for Southern policymakers during a week-long barnstorming tour from South Carolina and Virginia to Arkansas and Florida.

The Arkansas event will take place at 10 a.m. on Wednesday at the University of Central Arkansas. Participants will include Glen Hooks, Associate Regional Representative for the Sierra Club; Rob Fisher, the Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Ecological Conservation Organization (www.ecoconservation.org); April Ambrose, Representative of the Arkansas Climate Awareness Project (www.arclimate.org), the Arkansas Environmental Education Association, and Executive Director and Board Chair of Arkansas Earth Day Foundation; and Cliff Beacham, representing Faulkner County Supporters of Sustainable Communities.

Written by Arkansan Eddy Moore, the new book, "Getting Greener: Progressive Environmental Ideas for the American South," makes 15 substantive policy recommendations for state and local leaders to consider. It also suggests a dozen practical ideas that consumers can implement to make their lives greener without government action.

"The purpose of this book is to take ideas that have worked or are working in other areas of the country and help Southern leaders better understand how they can work in our region," said Better South President Andy Brack. "Implementing many of these ideas will reduce energy costs, save money for consumers and protect the environment by being smarter with how we deal with the environment."

Brack said the Center also next week would unveil a new Web site that makes the ideas accessible to anyone for free.

"Because the South is one of America’s leading areas for growth, it ought to be a leading area for dealing with policy issues in the environmental arena," said book author Eddy Moore, an Arkansas law student with years of policy experience in Washington and California. "But Southerners haven’t traditionally seen these challenges as opportunities to make life better. This new book helps explain some leading green ideas in ways that will allow us to grow responsibly and protect our heritage with the environment."